Clay Lucas

ONCE, if you wanted to surf Bells Beach, there were two ways of getting there: paddle from Torquay or bush-bash your way along the coastline on foot, carrying your board.

In 1960, surfer Joe Sweeney organised a grader to clear a track to Bells and the trickle of surfers became a steady flow. Then, in 1962, Peter Troy and Vic Tantau organised the rally that became the world's longest-running board-riding contest.

Fast-forward five decades and the beach is struggling to cope with 1 million visitors a year. Already its lone toilet block cannot cope - it now has to be pumped out every 48 hours.

Surf Coast Shire has commissioned a master plan for Bells Beach, proposing a $5 million remodelling of two existing car parks, fixing the toilet block and adding another, and building a new tour bus, caravan and campervan car park.

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Public comment on the plan closes today. In August the shire will decide whether to go ahead.

Local surfers say their paradise is about to be paved for another parking lot that will draw yet more visitors.

Tourists, he says, ''come in each morning, have a piss, a cigarette, and then continue on their tour to the 12 Apostles, having left behind a stack of their rubbish. We get the sewage and the rubbish, and our car park clogged up, but there's absolutely nothing in it for us.''

The shire and state government are trying to juggle surfer demands with those of a booming coastal population - which includes many sea-changers who want access to Bells' famous reef breaks - and 30 tour operators making a buck from the beach. ''It's becoming a real pressure situation,'' says Victorian Coastal Council chairwoman and councillor Libby Mears. ''On busy days we get 50 to 60 buses a day. Locals will always say they deserve unfettered access. And Bells is like a cathedral to these surfers. But others want to come and enjoy the natural environment here too.''

Last night, the Bells Beach Advisory Committee, made up of surfers, government agencies, the shire, Aboriginal elders and surf bodies, met for discussions. One member, Dean Webster, also a Surf Coast councillor, says tour operators must be charged for using the site, and moved to the new car park.

''We're not trying to get more tourist buses (but they need) somewhere to drop off. Traditional users don't want anything done, but the toilets are inadequate and we need to fix them up.'' Erosion on the cliffs above the beach must be stopped too, he says. ''We can't just sit back and do nothing.''